IECoasterEnthusiast
Roller Poster
On May 17, 2024, almost all of my school’s 8th grade went to Knott’s Berry Farm for an end of the year field trip before promotion to high school. The last time I have been to KBF was in late February 2022, right before I became a thoosie. I was looking forward to riding GhostRider because I wanted to experience the ejector airtime it had to offer. However, it was closed for retracking. Once we arrived at the park after taking a fairly long ride on the CA-91 West, we scanned the QR codes and were admitted into the park. We had to check in with our teachers and chaperones at the Ghost Town Grill between 12 and 2 PM. Some in my group, including myself, were considering purchasing Fast Lane for the day as we had a gut feeling that there would be long lines throughout our visit; however, since some of my friends did not want to splurge for it, none of us purchased skip-the-lines. On the bus ride, my mom purchased the all-day premium dining and drinks pass because I could easily break even with the pricey food and drinks; she gave me the QR code via text. I was also given $150 to use on purchasing merchandise. Only $15 was used on a full-day souvenir cup. The first ride we went on was HangTime, a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster with somewhat of a mixed reputation. My opinion of the ride was positive as it had a good balance of positives, negatives, and laterals. Front row was my row of choice for the single ride as I always ride in the front to build my expectations for the back row ride. However, my mission was getting creds left and right. I did not care to go on the flat rides and water rides with my friends as before the trip, I had 23 credits. I skipped Jaguar because I already had the credit from my previous visit. When my friends chose to ride the Calico River Rapids (I did not care to get wet in the high-60s F weather), I chose to ride Pony Express, a Zamperla Motorbike Coaster. The flywheel launch took me by surprise because it did have some force to it. We then walked over to Supreme Scream, their S&S Turbo Drop tower. I chose to go to Silver Bullet. When I saw the option to purchase a Single-Use Fast Lane, I tried to buy it, but it said “unavailable.” I went to guest services to figure out the problem; they told me only Prestige and higher passholders were able to get Single-Use Fast Lanes. I was on a day ticket. After, I went to get the included meals, snacks, and drinks wristband as part of the meal plan. In total, I barely did not break even as I was too focused on getting the credits and waiting in lines. When my friends were done with Supreme Scream, we checked in with our chaperones. I then got a pulled pork sandwich and a corn on the cob from a BBQ restaurant in Ghost Town. We ate our food at the Panda Express in the park. After eating, I wanted to go on Silver Bullet, but my friends did not want to due to a long posted wait time, so I rode by myself. It was actually better than what I thought as it gave me the rip-your-legs-off feeling that rides such as Batman give. Silver Bullet is an underrated B&M Invert that does not get enough credit. In total, my credit count was now 26 after the ride on Silver Bullet. After Silver Bullet, we queued for Xcelerator, the first Intamin hydraulic launch coaster. When we were around 8 trains away from getting on the ride, it gave the “Intamin temper tantrum,” a breakdown. I kept persisting for around 40 minutes until we were instructed by our teachers to hit the exit gate by 4PM; if not, they would take points off us from our daily participation grade. I had trouble finding the exit gate with another group from our school, so I got points off. Not being able to get on Xcelerator and GhostRider made me feel gutted, but at least I can come some time soon. It was quite a fun trip, although poorly planned by our whole friend group.